England captain Leah Williamson ready for Lioness return – ‘fit and ready’
According to Sarina Wiegman, England captain and defender Leah Williamson is “fit and ready” to return to the England squad in Friday’s Euro 2025 qualifier against Sweden.
Williamson suffered an ACL injury in April 2023 and withdrew from February’s friendlies with a hamstring issue.
Williamson was withdrawn from Arsenal’s League Cup final over Chelsea on Sunday with fresh knee injury concerns.
“She is in a good place and is ready,” said Wiegman.
“We needed to manage her a little bit. She had a full training session yesterday and will be on the pitch again today (Thursday)
“That is really good. She is still building but she is in a good place – if she comes through today, of course.”
Asked whether Williamson will captain the side, Wiegman said: “If she plays, she’s the captain. We just want to get through this training session and see how she is and how the team is.”
Lioness squad announcement 2024
Manchester City’s goalkeeper Khiara Keating, who pulled out of the squad with a knee injury and has been replaced by Southampton’s Kayla Rendell – her first senior call-up.
All 23 available players trained at St George’s Park on Thursday and will travel to London to face Sweden at Wembley.
Defending champions England have been drawn in a qualifying group with two of the world’s top six as they face France, Sweden and the Republic of Ireland, ranked third, sixth and 25th respectively.
The top two teams from the League A group will qualify automatically for next summer’s tournament, with the other two sides entering the play-offs.